This invention relates to a still video signal playback apparatus in which a magnetic head is moved radially of a rotating magnetic recording medium (hereinafter referred to as a "magnetic disk") having a plurality of recording tracks on which video signals representing still pictures are recorded, thereby to playback a still video signal from any of the tracks. More particularly, the invention relates to a still video signal playback apparatus capable of recording one frame of a still video signal, which is outputted by a television camera, television receiver or the like, on the aforementioned magnetic disk.
A still video playback apparatus plays back a still video signal recorded on a magnetic disk by a so-called electronic still video camera or still video magnetic recording system. When the playback output is applied to a television receiver, a still picture appears on the CRT of the television receiver. The electronic still video camera is a combination of an imaging device such as a solid state electronic imaging element and a recorder that employs a magnetic disk and operates by electronically imaging a subject and recording a still video signal, which represents the still picture of the subject, on the magnetic disk. A still video signal magnetic recording system electronically images a still picture which appears on a visible recording medium such as ordinary film or photographic paper and records the still picture on a magnetic disk.
Though still video signal playback apparatus of the type described above are becoming comparatively popular in both the private and business sectors, there is a desire for the addition of new functions so that such apparatus can find use in a wider range of applications. One such function is a recording function, in which a video signal indicative of one frame (one picture or screen) of continuous video imaged by a television camera or of one instantaneous frame of a moving picture appearing on a television receiver is recorded in the form of a still video signal on a magnetic disk. It is also required that the apparatus have the capability of immediately verifying whether a desired picture has been recorded when one frame is recorded.